Instant means of payment: a vector for financial inclusion in Latin America
For the younger generation, it will be hard to imagine how money was transferred before PIX. Launched in November 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, PIX became popular in its first few months, allowing instant transfers, at any time and day, at no cost to individuals. This is a global trend. A study published in March 2025 by Bank for International Settlements (BIS) compiled the most recent evidence on the subject and showed that FPS (Fast Payment Systems) are present in at least 123 countries, 15 of which are in Latin America.
According to the study, the largest markets for instant payments in 2022, considering the number of transactions, were India, China, Thailand and Brazil. In the ranking of transactions per capita, Brazil comes second. International experience shows that the development of these technologies has been led by central banks, private initiative or a partnership of both. The Brazilian case, with PIX, is cited as a good example of technology implemented on the initiative of a central bank, as well as SINPE Móvil in Costa Rica and SPEI in Mexico.
In Latin America, among the countries that have implemented instant payment methods in recent years, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Peru stand out as success stories. The models vary from country to country, with QR Code payments and the use of a cell phone number to identify a user being the most common features.
The benefits of instant payments go far beyond the speed and cost reduction of transactions. This technology has become a vector for financial inclusion, with an impact on the credit market and the economy. As the study shows, the presence of digital means of payment has a positive correlation with banking and the use of credit. There is also a negative correlation with informal work.
One of the channels for encouraging banking comes from the “network effect” mentioned by the BIS study: if a large proportion of consumers and companies adopt instant payment methods, which require a bank account or an account with a payment institution, the individual who chooses to remain outside this system will find it more difficult to receive and make transfers.
After accessing the financial system by creating an account, access to credit and other financial services can be facilitated based on the data generated by payment transactions themselves, completing the cycle of inclusion. According to the Global Findex database, 76% of adults worldwide had a current account in 2021 and access to credit was available on a smaller scale, with only 28% of adults borrowing from a formal financial institution.
Citing PIX as an example, the study mentions the impact of instant means of payment on competition, since, with the creation of these systems, smaller financial institutions are able to meet users' payment demands, emerging as an alternative to large financial institutions in offering this and other services.
“An instant payment system (FPS) - such as Pix in Brazil - can have positive impacts on the deposit and loan markets, promoting competitive pressure from small banks and non-bank institutions” (Sarkisyan, 2024).
The most comprehensive database on financial inclusion in the world is published by the World Bank. The data available so far covers up to 2021. In Brazil, this coincides with the first year of the PIX. Updating this data will make it possible to capture the impact of instant means of payment on financial inclusion even more accurately.
Seen as an international benchmark, PIX continues to add new features. Recently, the automatic PIX went live, allowing automatic payments to companies and service providers with the user's authorization. The feature is an alternative to automatic debit. The challenge of interoperability, which allows different platforms to interact securely, is the promise of Open Banking, designed to stimulate competition. Internationally, the cashless world is advancing, bringing greater security to transactions using credit cards and instant payments.
However, for the process of digitizing finance to translate into increased well-being, we need to go beyond technological infrastructure, considering that the use of these tools requires digital, financial and cyber literacy, in order to protect users from fraud, prevent over-indebtedness and move towards sustainable results.
In short, financial inclusion has become an important economic policy goal in both emerging and developed countries, as the BIS study points out. The credit bureau sector works on different fronts to promote sustainable credit, giving visibility to the issue, promoting economic inclusion, fostering financial education, preventing fraud and contributing with alternatives for offering and recovering credit to guarantee responsible credit. Technological progress is certainly another ally in the quest for a fairer, more efficient and inclusive system.
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